England and Zimbabwe have not played a bilateral series since 2004. However, the drought will end when the two teams meet in a four-day test match in Nottingham next summer.

Have you ever wondered why the two haven’t met in a two-way series for over two decades? The main reason was the tense political relations between the two countries under the regime of Robert Mugabe, former President of Zimbabwe.

After the government of England criticized Robert’s leadership, it generated anti-British sentiment. They accused Robert’s government of human rights violations due to the chaos in the country, where a large part of the population faced hunger.

At that time, Zimbabwean players had already alleged government involvement in the development of the game. During the 2003 World Cup, the prime ministers of England and Australia stated that they did not want their teams to travel to Zimbabwe, although they did not prohibit it.

Meanwhile, the England Cricket Board (ECB) received death threats from a group called “The Sons and Daughters of Zimbabwe”. While some players didn’t take it seriously, some believed it was more than a hoax.

“Come to Zimbabwe and you will return to Britain in wooden coffins.” Read the threat received by the ECB.

Consequently, England wanted their match against Zimbabwe to be moved to South Africa for security reasons. However, the ICC rejected the petition and called the matches in Zimbabwe safe to continue.

Ultimately, England refused to travel to Harare and lost their points in the 2003 World Cup. During Zimbabwe’s first match in the tournament against Namibia, two Zimbabwean players, Andy Flower and Henry Olonga, wore black armbands in protest against the Robert’s regime.

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Despite political tensions and England not traveling to Harare at the World Cup, Zimbabwe traveled to the United Kingdom for a two-match Test series a few months later. Later, they also played a tri-series involving England, Zimbabwe and South Africa in the same year.

Likewise, there were clouds over England’s tour of Zimbabwe in 2004, which was supposed to be canceled at one point. However, the tour went ahead, despite the series being reduced to four matches from five, as English journalists failed to obtain accreditation to cover the first match.

Relations between the two nations were exacerbated when the ECB cut all bilateral agreements against Zimbabwe in 2005 on the advice of the government. Since then, the two teams have only played once: during the 2007 World T20 in Cape Town.

However, relations between the two nations have improved drastically in recent years, leading to positive talks on cricket between both cricket boards. Therefore, Zimbabwe will finally tour England for their second four-day Test match.

“We are delighted to be able to host Zimbabwe for a men’s test match for the first time in two decades. Zimbabwe has a proud cricket history and has produced world-class players and coaches who have enriched the game around the world. “We are committed to developing a closer relationship with Zimbabwe Cricket and the announcement of this test against our England men’s team is a step in that ambition,” said ECB chief executive Richard Gould.

England was the only exception that did not play a bilateral series against England between full member teams under the 2022-2027 future tour programme. Indeed, it is a historic step towards reviving cricket relations between both teams after extensive political tensions, and it is to be hoped that the two sides will now meet regularly.

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